Cyberjustice Laboratory to create a fully digital municipal court

City of Québec launching a digital court to be developped in partnership with the Cyberjustice Laboratory.

Patrick Voyer, Member of the Executive Committee on Information Technologies, and Professor Karim Benyekhlef, Executive Director of the Cyberjustice Laboratory of Université de Montréal, presented today a new partnership agreement that will result in the implementation of a fully digital municipal court.

This three-year partnership agreement will allow the City of Québec to benefit from the Laboratory’s research infrastructure and the expertise of its researchers in order to optimize the case management of files of the municipal court.

“This partnership is an important step in the realisation of a digital court for the City of Québec. For more than ten years, we have monitored and studied the best practices in this field at an international level. The expertise developed by the Laboratory will offer us concrete support to integrate technologies within the judicial process in order to improve its activities and access to justice for all citizens”, said Mr. Voyer.

The agreement with the City of Québec Municipal Court is the latest of a number of partnership agreements that the Cyberjustice has signed, in particular with Quebec’s Ministry of Justice, the French Ministry of Justice, the World Bank and the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of France. “These collaborations make it possible for us to reach more stakeholders and thus improve access to justice”, noted Professor Karim Benyekhlef.

Many advantages for citizens and the legal community

The integration of technology at the municipal court offers many advantages such as electronic case management and access to online services for citizens and the legal community. Furthermore, a digital court means a decrease in travel, processing times, of non-value added tasks (such as repairs, printing, case filing, double entry), and operating costs (printing, postage, etc.).

Here are a few examples of the technological tools that will be available in courtrooms to improve evidence presentation:

Wifi

Document camera, including screening

Possibility of using a smart phone or tablet to show a picture or a place with Google Maps or on the interactive city map

the possibility to use a tablet with an annotation function to draw pictures, a map that enables certain elements to be highlighted, saved and included in the case file, etc.

video-appearances

New online electronic services will also allow the public to have a better experience at the municipal court. These online services will make it possible to:

enter a plea

consult and follow the evolution of their cases at all times

file evidence

set a hearing date online

Quebec City, a smart city

In Quebec City the concept of smart city means the implementation of information infrastructure that will improve quality of life for citizens, service offer and management of the city. The digital court project offers important benefits for citizens: a better understanding of the judicial process and an improved access to justice.